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I have a little problem. I'm addicted to cookbooks, food writing, recipe collecting, and cooking. I have a lot of recipes waiting for me to try them, and ideas from articles, tv, and restaurants often lead to new dishes. I started losing track of what I've done. So now I'm taking photos and writing about what I've prepared—unless it's terrible in which case I forget it ever happened.

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Memorial Day meals must involve grilling, and those meals have to include slaw, right? I decided that must be true, so I set out to find a new and different twist on standard coleslaw. I flipped through a couple of other books before I thought to have a look at Eat This Book by Tyler Florence. I should pick up this book more often because I’ve only cooked from it a few times, but it’s full of great ideas. The food is influenced by all corners of the globe, and as you flip pages, each recipe offers a completely different style and set of flavors from the last. I’ve made the falafel with tahini sauce which was great, and now I’m wondering why I haven’t made the sauteed feta cheese or African-spiced chicken with green olive sauce yet. I got this book back in 2005 at our local wine and food festival. Tyler was at the festival, did a cooking demo, and signed books. In my book, he wrote: “Lisa, cook your heart out.” Well, Tyler, I’m trying. I’m still having as much fun cooking as I was four years ago, and I now realize I haven’t been using your book as much as I should.

The spicy slaw accompanies pulled pork barbecue in the book, but we paired it with grilled chicken sausages. I was thrilled to have almost all the ingredients for this from our CSA. Red cabbage, a baby head of green cabbage, onion, and carrots all came from Hands of the Earth Farm. Green cabbage was suggested in the recipe, and red chiles were to be used for color contrast. Since I had that lovely head of red cabbage and the smaller green cabbage, I used them both and then used both a red chile and a green one. The carrots and onion were shredded on a box grater, and the cabbage was thinly sliced by hand. Green onions, a red chile, and a jalapeno joined those vegetables, and the combination was mixed with a dressing of mayonnaise, dijon mustard, cider vinegar, lemon juice, celery seed, and hot sauce. A pinch of sugar and salt and pepper were added. I really like celery seed in slaw, so I garnished with a little more of it on top.

This wasn’t a thick, gloupy kind of slaw since the vinegar and lemon juice thinned the mayonnaise a bit, but the dressing was still nicely creamy. The crunchy cabbage and sweet carrots with the spicy chiles and zing of the hot sauce in the dressing made for a lively and delicious slaw. It was a great side dish for our sausages, and it would partner well with just about anything off the grill.

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comments:

For some strange reason I have an overabundance of cabbage in my crisper drawer right now, so this is a timely recipe. I love slaw --but only if it has a kick or something that contrasts with the standard creaminess -- as this one no doubt does, with the chiles. I think I'm with you on the purple cabbage, as I assume the color means its rich in anthocyanins?

Eat This Book is one of my favorite go to cookbooks. You can find recipes in there from all over the world. The pics are great too. I hadn't tried this slaw recipe but I will likely do so soon. The lack of a stove/oven in my new kitchen calls for all the raw recipes I can get my hands on!

I got my Eat This Book cookbook in 2005 also, and Tyler signed it for me also and I got a signed copy for my friend, Sarah... and he signed mine, "Lisa, cook your heart out!" And my friend's - "Sarah, cook your heart out!" Lol! Guess he ran out of things to say after signing a few thousand books! He was really nice, though, and fun to meet and I, too, love the book. Keep up the great cooking. I have linked to your blog through my gardening/chickens blog and many people have told me how much they enjoy your blog (They all thought it was me until I set them straight). ~Lisa